Charles "Mack's" Quest for Gold by his daughter, Maxine McNamara

"The discovery of rich veins of gold in Yukon Territory NW Canada in 1896 led my father to leave for the West and Alaskan territory. A Northfield News states that he and Libbeus (father of Maude Howes) left Northfield together for the quest of gold in 1898. They had to make the long trip by rail to Seattle, Washington, where they then applied for passage on a steamer to Cape Nome, Alaska which was a focal point for landing since place gold deposits had been discovered there.

"At Seattle, it was necessary to get supplies of food, medicine, clothing and mining equipment to take with them to Nome, as they had to maintain themselves, including some sort of a cabin to live in while living in the rugged north.

"Father's sister Alice received a letter from him telling of the hardships and conditions that he encountered. I quote excerpts.

"Father had reached Cape Nome, Alaska, after a voyage of 25 days on the boat 'Tacoma.' It was a wearisome journey dodging cakes of ice in the 'Bering Sea.'

"As they were landing at Cape Nome a severe storm came up and they were obliged to put out to sea. Many of the passengers had not been landed. All of the small freight was washed overboard. My father lost the coal oil, which was so necessary for keeping warm.

"He reports that there are often a number of shipwrecks between Seattle and Cape Nome, due to the rough sea. He ventures the assertion that very likely, there will be more before the end of summer. His boat the 'Tacoma' ran into a sandbar and came near to being smashed. The throwing overboard of 400 tons of coal saved the ship from destruction.

"He says that the morning he was writing this letter, the steamer 'Ohio' had arrived with a thousand passengers and 80 cases of smallpox. They had taken them to an island near St. Michaels for quarantine.

"He continues to write that there are 25,000 people at Cape Nome at present and they are arriving at the rate of 1000 per day. He says that no doubt 99 out of every 100 will be poorer in the fall than they are now; although, just at present, there is lots of work, unloading boats, the wages being $1 per hour. Lumber, he states is worth $200 per thousand feet, fresh meat $1 per pound and scarce at that; eggs, $1 per dozen; coal $100 per ton and the poorest kind of stove wood is $80 per cord.

"He has been doing very little mining, as most of his equipment had been swept overboard and doing work by hand was not profitable. He said that everything within a radius of 200 miles had been marked and staked.

"Some gold was extracted from the Yukon river and creeks. Some veins were much richer than others, so it was important that you stake out a good claim. It was a slow process and not as lucrative as it had been pictured. Father said that by hard work, you could get a good day's pay. I don't think that he got rich in the operation, but I know he got some.

"After acquiring gold nuggets or placer gold it was weighed and stored, until they returned to the states. If someone was coming back to San Francisco, often times he would bring back a friend's gold with him and deposit it in a San Francisco bank for safekeeping, until the prospector returned and claimed it. Father did just this, but on his return to San Francisco he found that the money from the gold had not been deposited in his name, so he was out what he had sent down.

"From Nome Father traveled to Dawson City and the Klondike River where the gold rush fever was going full blast. He returned to the states by White Horse, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan spending some time in each.

"We have a bottle of gold dust, (placer gold) a picture of father on a dog team sled, which was used a great deal for transportation and a polar bear rug, which he brought back with him.

"Father returned to Northfield in 1901. Most of his stories were of the hardships and survival of living in a vast wilderness and maintaining yourself against the cold, winter ice and frost bites.